Tue, 25 Nov 1997

Lousy car calls at the Grand Hyatt

In Jakarta I make my living as a driver. On Saturday, Nov. 15, 1997 I got a scolding from my boss because the boss had to wait for 30 minutes for the car. This was the second time, the first time the boss waited for 25 minutes, that was about two weeks ago.

I blamed the car call, which is lousy. My boss complained about it to the Grand Hyatt's bellboys and the answer was "there are no complaints from other guests, the car call is fine, it could be that your driver is sleeping, or wandering around, or your driver didn't hear the call". I am not deaf yet, I swear to God I never sleep at the Grand Hyatt's car park. Can they show me where I can sleep. I will be very happy to find that spot. It should be known that levels P2 and P3 are really hot like hell.

The best place on level P2 is on the right side which faces the canteen next to the prayer room. There is an air conditioner and it is quite cool here. But this area is always packed with drivers, and it is difficult to find a space to sit down even on the floor, let alone to sleep. The car call loudspeaker is not installed properly, it hangs temporarily and the sound is terrible.

Calls from the hotel are intermingled with calls from two calling points from Plaza Indonesia. Calls from the hotel are made by different people, some are loud with a tendency to shout impolitely. Then there are whispered calls, as if they were calling from the top floor of the hotel, thus drivers need to park their cars close to the loudspeaker. This proves there is no specific person responsible for attending the calls from the hotel. Sometimes only the last few words of the call can be heard like ......ke lobby hotel (to the hotel's lobby). All drivers will ignore this stupid call but the poor boss keeps waiting in vain, as the car will not show up. The people upstairs may say or think, "Stupid driver, where are you, why is it taking you so long to show up?" Please check the microphone on-off button, probably while the name is being called the button is not pressed properly. Calls from the hotel are stingy, or lazy, made only once. Why not make a standard procedure, or put a script at the microphone on how to address proper calls, i.e. names should be called twice or three times like what is done by Plaza Indonesia. Who is responsible for the calls when anybody can hold on the microphone. Do they have a record of the car calls made? Secure Parking operates 24 hours collecting parking fees, why can't this company assign somebody to the microphone.

Let us make everybody happy, both the bosses and the drivers.

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